Should you’ve received an outdated black and white TV, it’s most likely not helpful for a lot. There are valuable few analog broadcasters left on the planet and black and white isn’t that enjoyable to observe, anyway. Nonetheless, with a bit work, you can repurpose that outdated tube as a clock, as [mircemk] demonstrates.
The construct is predicated round an Arduino Nano R3. This isn’t a very highly effective microcontroller board, but it surely’s adequate to run the traditional TVOut library. This library permits you to generate composite video on an Atmel AVR microcontroller with an absolute minimal of supporting circuitry. [mircemk] paired the Arduino with a DS3231 real-time clock, and whipped up code to show the time and date on the composite video output. He then additionally demonstrates learn how to hack the sign into an outdated TV that doesn’t have a selected enter for composite alerts.
You’ll word the headline says “any outdated TV is usually a clock,” and that’s for good motive. Newer TVs are inclined to eschew the traditional composite video enter, so the TVOut library gained’t be any good in case you’re attempting to get a show up in your modern-era flatscreen. In any case, we’ve seen the TVOut library put to good use earlier than, too. Video after the break.